Dear WBAI producers ~
Here is a collection of articles and other related information concerning the
historic events which have been taking place recently in South Africa. Much
of this information has been totally "blacked out" from the U.S. media,
or worse yet, it has been reported completely "backwards" from what
actually happened!
Due to our "whirlwind" schedule in Durban (which included running
an information booth, organizing and participating in three different press
conferences, not to mention a steady stream of interviews for various radio
and TV stations, newspapers, magazines and film documentaries), myself and my
colleagues were completely unavailable for live interviews on WBAI/Pacifica
DURING the conference.
My trip was then extended beyond the end of the conference so that I could participate
in several additional important meetings and interviews. After a total
of three weeks in South Africa, I returned to New York on Thursday.
I believe that it is crucial that this information from myself and my colleagues
now be shared with WBAI/Pacifica audiences, especially because of the U.S. media
"black out" and distortions.
Another reason why I believe that it is crucial for this "dissident"
information to now be heard on WBAI/Pacifica is to restore a sense of balance,
since the pro-drug views of the "international treatment access" movement
"activists" (Treatment Action Campaign, ACT UP, POZ Magazine, Doctors
Without Borders) received a disproportionate amount of air-time on "Democracy
Now!" during the conference, in contrast with only one "dissident"
who was featured (Peter Duesberg).
Please contact me to discuss programming options on your respective programs.
I would like to give a full report, plus I would also like to recommend some
of my colleagues, including U.S., Zambian and South African "dissidents."
In particular, I would like to strongly recommend that each of you attempt to
do an interview with Dr. Sam Mhlongo, a South African physician who is head
of the Department of Family Medicine at a rural hospital outside Johannesburg
which serves over 2,000,000 rural South Africans. He will undoubtedly
reveal things to you that might make your
head spin (see interview transcript below).
~ Lynn ~
SunSongs@pobox.com
* * * * * *
Interview with Dr. Sam Mhlongo,
a key member of President Mbeki's "AIDS Advisory Panel;" Chief Family
Practitioner and Head of Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, MEDUNSA;
long-time member of the ANC: http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/data/jsinterviewsm.htm
* * * * * *
President Mbeki's opening speech
at the Durban conference: http://www.gov.za/president/index.html
* * * * * *
Nelson Mandela's closing speech
at the Durban conference.
(Although it was nearly universally reported, including on Pacifica News, that
Mandela explicitly stated in his speech that he believes that "HIV causes
AIDS," when you read the actual text, you will see that he said no such
thing. In fact, Mandela expressed strong support for President Mbeki:
"The President of this country is a man of great intellect
who takes scientific thinking very seriously and he leads a government that
I know to be committed to those principles of science and reason... It
is not, I must add, as if the South African government has not moved significantly
on many of these areas. It was the first deputy president in my government
that oversaw and drove the initiatives in this regard, and as President continues
to place this issue on top of the national and continental agenda. He
will with me be the first to concede that much more remains to be done.
I do not doubt for one moment that he will proceed to tackle this task with
the resolve and dedication he is known for...") http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mandela/2000/nm0714.html
* * * * * *
Shocking article in the South African press about the on-going
collusion between ACT-UP and pharmaceutical companies: http://www.iol.co.za/general/newsview.php?click_id=13&art_id=qw963474300175B232&set_id=1
http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/news/durbtricks.htm
* * * * * *
Article about the suspicious
timing of an ACT-UP protest which took place during an "AIDS dissident"
press conference (at which I was one of the three featured presenters): http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/news/sapadurbconf.htm
* * * * * *
Vast collection of recent news
articles about President Mbeki, his "AIDS Advisory Panel," the Durban
"XIII World AIDS Conference," the "dissident" presence at
the conference, and more:
http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/news.htm
* * * * * *
International on-line petition
in support of President Mbeki (this petition, begun in April of this year, now
has over 2400 signatures from over 70 different countries around the world):
http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/news/mbeki.htm
* * * * * *
More background info on President
Mbeki's involvement in questioning prevailing beliefs on "AIDS," including
international diplomacy efforts to draw other world leaders into the discussion:
http://www.iol.ie/~gittons/aids/mbeki.htm
* * * * * *
One of our press conferences
was reported on CNN.com. This same press conference led to a feature story
the following morning in the "DAILY NEWS," a South African newspaper.
To our surprise, the "DAILY NEWS" used
my quote on their publicity posters that morning--thus, telephone polls all
over downtown Durban and the surrounding suburbs featured this quote in large,
bold letters: "MBEKI A HERO SAY AIDS REBELS":
AIDS DISSIDENTS
HAIL MBEKI AS THEIR HERO
July 12, 2000, CNN.com / Web posted at: 6:34 AM EDT (1034 GMT)
DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters)--AIDS dissidents acclaimed South African President
Thabo Mbeki as their hero on Wednesday after he defended the rights of all scientists
to be heard in a debate on the disease.
Mbeki has courted controversy by appointing so-called dissidents--some of who
deny that HIV leads to AIDS--to his own advisory panel on the disease, with
which 4.2 million South Africans are infected.
"Mbeki should be considered a hero for bringing these issues to the forefront,"
said Lynn Gannett, a former data manager for trials of the drug.
Mbeki again defended his decision to open the AIDS debate to dissidents, saying
it was an issue of free speech that took on special significance in the context
of his country's apartheid history.
"Exclusion of ideas, simply because they are different from mine, I don't
think is very healthy," Mbeki told Reuters at the annual Organization of
African Unity summit in Togo on Tuesday.
"In our own case, just in terms of the political transition in South Africa,
we wouldn't have achieved what we achieved if we excluded certain views."
Mbeki's opening speech at the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban provoked
anger among many activists, health experts and leading scientists when he ducked
the issue of the link between HIV and AIDS.
Top AIDS researcher David Ho urged Mbeki to stop the debate, or find that his
legacy was that he had allowed millions to die.
But the small group of dissidents attending the conference gave their full backing
to Mbeki.
Charles Geshekter, a scientist on Mbeki's panel, said estimates of nearly 34
million people living with HIV-AIDS were hugely exaggerated and that only a
small fraction were actually dying of AIDS.
"AIDS in Africa has become a catch-all word. A name for a series of clinical
symptoms for malaria, tuberculosis, dysentery," he told reporters.
Major outbreaks of disease, including AIDS, were fueled by massive income disparities
related to South Africa's modern history, including apartheid, he said.
Virtually all leading scientists say that HIV causes AIDS and is spread through
sexual contact or blood use. Leading bodies such as UNAIDS, the United Nations
Aids programme, estimate that nearly 35 million people are
living with the disease which has ravaged large parts of Africa and Asia.
Gannett supported Mbeki's skepticism about the efficacy of the widely used drug
AZT, and believed it should not be used. The government has denied AZT to pregnant
women and rape victims on cost grounds.
http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/AIDS/07/12/aids.mbeki.reut/index.html